Propagation question

I posted this over in the Easter Bunny thread, but now I have a question regarding the color of the new leaves
This first photo, taken on 11/15 shows the new leaf emerging on this leaf (my FIRST ever propagated AV!! proud mom here!0

and the second photo shows it today. Question is, is the whitish color of the new leaves normal or is this a variegated plant. Honestly, I can't remember which noid this is as I started a few leaves at the same time. When I purchased them, a few leaves were breaking off or broke off during their trip home so I thought 'what the heck' and stuck them in soil. This is the only survivor from that group, but I've since started four more plus the leaves Allison sent to me.

Second photo with leaves emerging today

Hey Beg....

Looks like you have a variegated plant to me. Looks like there will be several plants. Also, and most important, it looks like you are doing a great job. Keep up the good work. Won't be long now. Once they come up they start going fast. At least faster than it took them to first appear.

Nanna

Cool, I think this is the mother

Cool!

One thing to remember about propagating variegated AVs is that they're much easier to start if you happen to have a leaf that is all or mostly green. The greener leaves have more chlorophyll, so they root & grow more readily. And the variegation will come true on the babies even if the mother leaf is green -- as Begonia's picture shows!

How pretty they are variegated :)) When ever you propagate a variegated plant you want to use a leaf all green or mostly all green. Or sometimes, well I think lot's of times an older or larger plant does not always keep their variegated. But when you grow babies from their leaves the new plant will have nice variegation. Mine seem to stay that way a lot. They say you need to keep the room cool. . I run A/c all year so my home is pretty cool. And in the winter I hate running the heat only if needed we have new central heat and a/c but I hate the noice of the heater. At night I run my lights to keep the plants warm. Like last night my stands went to 65 degrees. When the sun comes in it warms our home. Today high will be at 3 PM of 67 degrees and then the sun goes down and it gets cool again. But my garden room never gets hotter than 75. Now Thanksgiving morning is only going to be around 40 dgrees and I won't let the room go lowere than 60 I don't really like it lower than 65 for more than a short time. So I may have to put the heat on to warm it up until the sun comes in ! But keeping my room average of 70 degree's year round helps with the variegation.
You are going to have a real pretty variegated babies from you leaf !
WOW I can't wait keep taking pictures of it as it grows. When they are this size i put them under lights close and start feeding them !
Allison

We were all typing the same time . lol your new variegated baby is beautiful :))

Now the little leaf on the bottom is turning purple! WoW!

here's a side x side comparison.

WOW pretty ! Does the back of Mom's leaf is it reddish ? Allison

Maybe it will have pink or rose in the variegation . Also red /back ? Either way anyway it sure is cute and pretty and going to be beautiful. I can't wait I like watching it grow. Keep it under close lights and warm and even start feeding it . Allison

It's kind of tinted that way. Here's a photo.

It might be that one of the moms that croaked (ok, I admit it, I killed it) was one that had some pink/white variegation. Because the mother I pictured above does not. Perhaps this is a survivor to the one that is now in the compost pile.

BTW, all of my Allison babies are doing very well.

Here they are

Here's the leaves. I removed the excess moisture after the shot was taken.

WOW That's great ! I can't cover my leaves they would rot. It's just to humid. I cover with light plastic with holes hardly any moisture inside just watered a tiny tiny bit by morning they'd be full of moisture and starting to rot. So be careful . Do you always cover them ? Do what works best for you. I just love The wasp plant The Martin put it in a window or under lights it will bloom all the time ! It will grow large. Did you see the extra pot I sent you as that one plant is getting big and will need transplanting soon.
Your new baby with variegated leaves is so cute ! Good Job, Allison

We aren't very humid here. Dry like popcorn! I had to buy a cool mist humidifyer to help here. I keep little jar terreriums for some of my more tropical begonias. It looks like a science lab in my 'playhouse' (office).

All of those little AV's are in a south window with a new light. They get sunlight (through a pleated white shade) all day and the grow lights in addition to that.

i'll check to make sure the humidity isn't too high in the dome. I'd hate to lose all your hard work!
Cheers,
L

Yes I think most people cover ? Even a lot of people I know in Florida. But it never worked well for me I rotted them :((. But you have to do what's best for you. I love your little variegated baby :)) It's fun watching it grow. Thanks for sharing ! Allison

I use those plastic domes for seed starting in 1020 trays, but I punch a bunch of little holes in them. This seems to keep humidity in (at least enough to produce some condensation on the dome) without keeping things too soggy. I've got the same domes now (with holes) over my AV leaves. 2 or 3 leaves have failed to root and then rotted, but the rest seem to be just fine. Of course, it's generally less humid here than in FL!

Those little plantlets are just gorgeous! Way to grow 'em!

Critter that's a great idea to put hole on top ! Thanks, that also would help with moisture build up. The only thing I have covered is a small baby sucker or a trailing Chimera. I got it from a friend in Canada she mail just the tiny sucker. It has grown a lot and new leaves but I watch it everyday not taking any chances. My other trailing Chimera has several baskets babies growing on the bloom stalks and I feel I will cover them when I take them off the Mom. I will make sure I do hole !
Allison

The easiest way I have found to poke holes into plastic without cracking it is to heat a metal shish-kabob skewer on the stove. You can poke quite a few holes before reheating the tip, and you can also poke holes in multiple (nested) containers or lids. If you heat just a couple inches at the pointy end, the other end stays cool enough to handle.

I use this method to poke little holes in my plastic dome lids and also to poke holes in the bottom of takeout containers or plastic cups for drainage when using them for planting.

I'm going to have to find something for my little basket babies from my trailing Chimera . We never go out. I can't eat I can only drink boost.
My sucker baby is in a big antique glass sniper I think it's called and it has a bag over it with holes. I am going to have several basket babies and some suckers off of my Chimera trailer soon ( just letting them get bigger) to take off of mom plant and I don't want to lose them. All other times I just take suckers and put them in pots , put under lights and they grow in no time. But I don't want to take chances for theses.


This message was edited Nov 27, 2005 3:25 PM

Allison,
You could try putting those lil babies in a small glass jar, like a pickle jar or similar size . I use alot of them to root my cuttings in. I add a small amount of chopped
sphagnum moss to the top of the potting soil and stick the baby down on top. The moisture & condensation helps mine to root with lightening speed. Once you get it well rooted then you just prop open the jar a bit everyday to harden it off and it is almost fool proof.

I did my Chantasprings cutting this way and you know how small that rascal is.:)

Good luck!

MsC

Thanks MsC I'm going to look around. I don't want to take my Hawaiian Trail baby now was a sucker as it's veery happy there out of it's glas container. I am going to about six Basket babies and suckers babies. from my Sunray Trail my trailing other Chimera. it acualy is trailing crazy so I am going to take a few of them off and then I'm letting the basket babies on the bloom stalks get a little bigger then I plant them all in their own pots to get more plants !
Allison

It's pretty cool to watch the arial roots grow down into the moss so if you aren't sure it will work try it with something you know you can replace easily.
I like the method because there is NO guessing if it's rooted.

Those chimera's are beautiful ~but pricey lil guys...:)


MsC

Yes I don't like Chimeras much as they can only be grown by suckers or leaf stalk. I had a few I sold.
But I really wanted a trailing one. I like to grow the trailers and figured it would be easier to get new Chimera plants.from one that trails.
There was an auction in Spring of Chimera Hawaiian Trail up on Ebay for Canada shipping only. My friend wanted one bad. So I bought it for a gift for her. Then a few months ago she mailed me a tiny sucker I put it in a thumbprint pot now it's in 2 " pot. It's been slow growing but I am Happy to have it !
Then I saw one on Ebay a trailer rare hard to get I've never seen it before or after any where. I paid about % 53.00 . for it. ( In one year it will be a Vintage Av. as anything older than 20 years is vintage) When I got it it came from Canada I thought it would die. I bought it in the summer but she shipped mid September as it was so hot here. It was out of it's pot dry dead roots, most of it's leaves off :(( I had bid on a healthy blooming plant. It was covered with dirt. I put what roots alive in plastic bag and spent a good amount of time washing it's 4 leaves alive in the sink with hot/warm water. I have been so lucky. This was mid-September. It is in a 3 " stuffed pot and when and if it ever stops blooming I will take some of the babies off and put it in a pan pot. It has had a big bouquet of flowers for over a month and more buds each day. I counted at least three bloom stalks not with two leaves but with baskets ( babies growing ) so that will be three babies there :))
They each have 5-7 leaves but I will let them get a little larger before taking them off mom.
No lie it has 50 leaves now. The originaly four leaves are still there their not the prettiest but still on the plant.
This plant as done well for me I am lucky. And now I will have some trailing Chimera rare babies plants in fall to share. The first one goes to my friend Sharon :)) Next one to my Secret Easter Bunny swap buddie :))
Sunray trail is Standard also. I took pictures of it a few weeks ago in bloom now it just has more. I need to get them out of my throw away camera. lol Allison
Sunray Trail
Now I better go get Janice ( Jannich) box packed before my husband turns off lights to put our 15 thousand plus Christmas lights on :))

Very pretty! That's sounds like a remarkable recover for a violet.You must have a beautiful green thumb to have revived it. With my clutsiness I would have killed it for usre..lol

Enjoy your Christmas lights!


MsC

I was thinking I was lucky. I did feed it in the begining fetilizer with the first number the highest to promote new foliage growth. And I got both. Then I thought maybe the plant though damaged and almost dead from travel maybe it had a good start which helped it also. But being the plant it is I sure am happy it's going all the great things, growing, trailing, baby baskets on the bloom stalks, blooming crazy :)) Lot's of luck. Allison

Hey Beg :)) Can you please keep posting pictures of your babies as it grows ? !!! I just love watching it grow. And then when it's big enough to be put in a pot of it's own we can see that ! Once they get started the grow so fast :)) Allison

Just a wee bit of progress. You can see 'hairs' on the new leaves.

Oh wow big difference. So pretty. your babies have nice colors :)) How do you get those 3 pictures side by side like this ? Thanks for sharing, Allison

I used photoshop and just pasted them into the file.

That's neat. Have you started feeding your babies ? Allison

just did. I bought some schultz violet food.so far so good.
going to repot the one you said needed it, just can't remember which one it is. have to go to my list...

It' probaly a plant in a 2' pot that looks to big to be in it. Do you have/find the larger pot I sent ? I Grow my mini's in them for life just when I transplant them into new 2" pots change soil and groom as needed. Some Semi-minatures I grow in 2" pots for most of it's life. Most
of all my babies that leave Mom leaf goes into a 2" pot . You may want to check your list as you go along and see what the plant is , mini, semi, standard..so on and you'll know when it wll need a larger po. 99 percent of the time I just go one size at a time except the plant
grew crazy and got away from me !!! I follow the 1/3 " rule as close as possible The pot being one third the size of the plant this helps me
no t over pot the plant .
I also half the amount of recommended fertilizers .
Have fun !!!


This message was edited Nov 30, 2005 4:22 PM

This is for you Allison, here's a dated progression of the new growth on my FIRST baby! (proud mom here!!!) I'm REALLY loving the green veining on the largest red leaf. So far some amazing colors and combinations on this one. Great for a first child!!

here's a close up.

WOW it's growing super fast :)) Gorgeous babies. They sure are fascinating to watch and their beauty and color is amazing . I can't say enough how wonderful they are. Thanks for sharing your joy ! I am really enjoying them.

Fabulous! I love the different colors... I have a plantlet of 'Rob's Love Bite' that recently got that same strawberry pink color on its crown -- really made me look twice! It's interesting how plantlets from the same leaf can have such different variegation.... I have 2 'Grape Slush' plantlets in the same pot that have such different coloration! One is more white than green, the other is much darker. These little babies are just fascinating.... :-)

Oh yes Jill I ditto :)) I love pink foliage. Lot's of time vareigated plants , larger ones lose their varuegations. Plus they tell you to use a green leaf. Then I find my babies with the prettiest colors. They say the cool weather helps too. I am lucky also I have a lot of babies coming up pink ! I am so excited watching begonias breath taking babies frow. Such pretty colors. It sure is growing fasy . Allison